What Can We Realistically Expect from the New-Look Celtics?

With Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward in the fold, talent won't be a problem for Boston. But, with so many new faces, chemistry might be.

By Adam Lowenstein (@StatsAdam)

The Boston Celtics will tip off the 2017-18 season in a week's time when they visit Quicken Loans Arena to take on the defending Eastern Conference champion Cleveland Cavaliers. Kyrie Irving will visit his not-so-old stomping grounds and the only NBA stadium that he called home for his first six professional seasons.

The Green has not fared well in Cleveland recently. Though Brad Stevens’ squad had Avery Bradley’s miracle shot fall in to give the coach his only ever conference finals victory, Boston has dropped six of its last eight games at “the Q.”

Can the Celtics Truly Contend in 2017?

By Adam Lowenstein (@StatsAdam)

We are just 11 months away from the 2017 NBA Finals, and the Celtics could become one of the favorites to the win them in the coming weeks. There have been rumblings from around the league that Blake Griffin and Russell Westbrook could be in green very soon.

Boston’s current NBA championship odds are the fourth-best in the league, with the only significant move being the replacement of young, lumbering zero-time all-star Jared Sullinger with 30-year-old four-time all-star Al Horford.

Jared Sullinger Became a Double-Double Machine for Boston in November

By Adam Lowenstein (@StatsAdam)

At halftime of Friday’s drubbing of the Washington Wizards, the Celtics already had three double-digit scorers and were en route to putting away Randy Wittman’s squad for the second time in November.

Jared Sullinger, who put up a season-high 21 points in November 6’s 118-98 victory over the Wizards, was once again a model of efficiency against Washington.

With 11 points and 12 rebounds at the half, Sullinger already had a double-double. He finished the contest as the only player to grab 10 or more rebounds, and he helped the Celtics to their third-best rebounding differential in a game this season. When outrebounding their opponent in 2015-16, the C’s are 7-1.

The Celtics Quietly Building One of the NBA's Best Defenses

Forward Jared Sullinger has been pivotal for Boston on the defensive end, and on the glass this season.

By Adam Lowenstein (@StatsAdam)

Wednesday’s 18-point lead against the visiting Dallas Mavericks did not last long. The TD Garden crowd was roaring at referees Tony Brothers, Ben Taylor and Tony Brown for most of the game, but the Celtics have to be faulted for their frustrating shooting in the second, third and fourth quarters.

Boston’s 26th-ranked 3-point shooting started strong. The Celtics made three of their first five shots from downtown, but finished the game 5-for-21, including missing all six of their 3-point attempts in the second quarter.

However, the green bounced back on Friday to win yet another game by double digits. With Boston’s 120-95 victory over the Brooklyn Nets, the 7-5 Celtics have yet to win a game by fewer than 13 points this season. The seven victories of at least 10 points thus far this season already ties Boston’s total of double-digit victories during the entire 2006-07 season, and surpasses the team’s total in 1996-97.

According to ESPN’s Hollinger team statistics, the Celtics’ defense is tied with the San Antonio Spurs’ defense for the lowest number of points allowed per possession. The main reason for the green’s success is that the team is forcing the highest turnover percentage in the league this season.

Basketball-Reference’s Defensive Box Plus/Minus, which measures a players’ per-possession performance relative to the league average, has three Celtics in the top ten: Jared Sullinger, Amir Johnson and Jae Crowder.

Your Official Milestone Preview of the 2015-16 Boston Celtics

Isaiah Thomas only played a quarter-season for Boston last year, but he could put himself in the franchise record books with a full year of work in 2015-16.

By Adam Lowenstein (@StatsAdam)

Last year, I wrote about how Jeff Green 16.9 points per game in 2013-14 represented the Celtics’ lowest single-season leading scorer since Dee Brown’s 15.5 two decades prior. Well, among Celtics players who played at least 25 games last season, he again led the team in scoring.

However, Isaiah Thomas averaged more than 19 points in just 26 minutes per contest in his 21 games with the Green during the 2014-15 season. To put his one-fourth of a season in a bit of perspective, do you know how many players accomplished that feat, averaged 26.4 points per 36 minutes, in at least 20 games last season?

The answer is three – James Harden (81 games; 26.8 points per 36 minutes), Russell Westbrook (67; 29.5) and Kevin Durant (27; 27.0).

I understand I'm stretching it a bit, but Thomas’ scoring per minute over his 67 games in 2014-15 was still in the top 10 in the league. With his ability to create his own shot and his propensity to get to the free throw line, he could make his mark in Boston’s single-season record books in terms of points, 3-pointers and free throws.

The 2014-15 Celtics Season in Review: A Bridge Year Unlike Any Other

Can Marcus Smart, Brad Stevens and the rest of the Celtics take the next step in 2015-16?

By Adam Lowenstein (@StatsAdam)

The 2014-15 Boston Celtics season was officially the second one for Brad Stevens as the team’s head coach, but was it really?

Did he actually have a full-fledged basketball roster for more than a few months since replacing NBA champion Doc Rivers? Was Stevens drawing up out-of-bounds plays for the same players each year? Did the former Butler Bulldogs coach even have a semblance of consistency with his NBA team?

In a game fraught was one-and-dones, like most of the high-caliber college basketball programs today, he sure did have a consistent roster from year to year in the Horizon League. His freshman became sophomores, who mostly became juniors, and a lot stayed around for their senior seasons.

Matt Howard, Ronald Nored and Andrew Smith all played four years with their head coach, and Shelvin Mack played three seasons for the Bulldogs.

Stevens, self-admittedly, is not a salesman, so drawing free agents to Boston will be challenging on the surface no matter what, even if Kelly Olynyk’s one-game-suspension armbar squandered the green’s chances of signing Kevin Love (it did not). The Celtics’ next phase truly has not begun, because the team has shifted depth charts more often in the last two seasons than a Celtics fan has dropped F-bombs at LeBron James at TD Garden in the 2015 playoffs.

What To Make of these Boston Celtics

While mostly known for his beautiful hair, Kelly Olynyk has proven to not be terrible at basketball this year.

By Adam Lowenstein (@StatsAdam)

For most of Wednesday, I was ready to entitle this article, “How About These Above-.500 Celtics.” Then, for most of Friday, I still could have used “How About These Celtics.” If the men in green would have finished off both the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Cleveland Cava-LeBrons, then Celtics Nation would be pondering, “Maybe I want the Celtics to make the playoffs.”

Those two victories would have allowed Boston to match its longest winning streak in the Brad Stevens era. Coincidentally, it was King James and his Miami Heat that were a part of the Celtics’ four-game winning streak in early November last year. If the 2014-15 team matched the streak, all the Celtics talk would be positive: it would be about Kelly Olynyk putting up among the league’s best offensive numbers and Rajon Rondo passing Paul Pierce for the fourth-most assists in franchise history.

Taking You to School Podcast: Kobe's Legacy and Boston's Rebuild

Kobe is one of the league's fiercest competitors, but where does he rank among the all-time greats?

 By SuiteSports Staff

On this week's edition of the "Taking You to School" podcast, Joe Parello and Jeremy Conlin put Kobe Bryant's memorable career into historical context, and discuss the massive rebuilding job beginning in Boston.

Also, did the T-Wolves overpay for Nikola Pekovic, and how good can the Bucks be building around Larry Sanders? All that, and more, on this week's podcast.

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Taking You to School Podcast: Summer League Stars and Offseason Moves

Join SuiteSport's Jeremy Conlin and Joe Parello, along with their buddy Kels Dayton of RoundballDaily.com, as they discuss the biggest hoops stories of the day.

This week, the three tackle the biggest moves of the NBA offseason and the potential stars of the NBA's Summer League. Also, how will former Butler coach Brad Stevens adjust to life in the NBA as the Celtics' front man? Plus, the obligatory LeBron-MJ comparison and more on this week's edition of "Taking You to School."

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Bob Lobel: A Red Sox Revival

By Bob Lobel

The unexpected but very appreciated Red Sox Revival has become a show…a reality show. 

Even though Andrew Miller is out for the season with ligament damage in his foot, the resurgence of the local 9 has been nothing short of miraculous. It’s almost impossible to do what they have done in less than a year. Think back to those dog days of last summer when a pack of dogs were impersonating the old towne team. 

Dogs, I say. 

Celtics Hire Brad Stevens, Search For Cutting Edge

Brad Stevens points in a new direction of NBA coaching (Flickr)

By Jeremy Conlin

The Boston Celtics announced Wednesday evening that Brad Stevens (formerly the head coach at Butler University) had been hired to replace Doc Rivers as head coach. The move came as a surprise to many, although much of the surprise came from how unexpected the move was. There are many high-profile coaches currently unemployed, including Stan Van Gundy and 2013 NBA Coach of the Year George Karl, and Stevens had not been rumored to be a potential candidate for any of the openings over the last two months.